After the Headlines  Economy remains bleak for many

In our “After the Headlines” series, we’ll return to stories that made headlines in 2010. This story is a follow-up to the series, “Stark Choices,” which began in September. Locals still struggle to make ends meet in what some would call “a bleak economy.”

As a member of the U.S. Air Force, Scott May served in Iraq, where he fixed planes and survived a mortar attack.

But it may be what he has had to face at home that has been the most difficult for the 36-year-old.

“I’ve made deals with creditors to get the bills paid, and I’m forced to live at home with my parents,” he said. “Getting a job, well, it’s not so easy.”

When The Repository first talked to May last summer for its series on the economy — “Stark Choices” — he was unemployed and working toward an associate’s degree in criminal justice at Brown Mackie College.

He has made strides in the latter: He is completing the externship he needs to finish his degree. He expects to have it in his hands by the coming summer.

But, for May, who will be the first in his family to graduate from college, going back to school had a price other than the cost of tuition. He is separated from his wife, who moved back to her home state of Utah, taking their two children with her.

‘BETTER LIFE’

“I wanted to go to school to get a better life for us, but she didn’t understand that,” he said. “I’m just focused on finishing my degree and on my career right now so I can give my kids a better life.”

Just a few years ago, however, May had a career and what he would call “a better life.” He was in the military for 14 years. Retirement, albeit early, was just around the corner.

“I wanted to go as far as I could go in the military,” May said. “When I was in the military, I was somebody. Once I walked outside that gate, I was nobody.”

Upon graduation from Fairless High School, he joined the Air Force. It was 1993, and the 18-year-old was set to fly planes. Though he didn’t get his wish, he was trained to fix aircraft and became a maintenance specialist.

He was in Iraq just three months when he was injured during the mortar attack. Although he received severance pay, he is not scheduled to receive disability payments until 2033.

“I’m worried about the job outlook,” May said. “These days, companies have to pay to keep the lights on. I had problems just getting an unpaid externship. I would definitely call that a bleak economy.”

EXCEPTION TO THE RULE

Not too long ago, Michael Slater was out of a job, losing his house and struggling to put food on the table.

Today, he’s working between 60 and 70 hours a week at a transitional foster-care facility in Akron. He has full benefits, medical insurance, and life, quite frankly he says, is good.

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He and his wife, Candy, have moved from their small trailer into a new home, a fixer-upper in Massillon.

When The Repository first talked to Slater in the summer, he recently had graduated from Brown Mackie and had started his new job after being unemployed for two years.

Slater had taken the position of a growing number of Americans: Out of work, they aren’t waiting around seeking a handout. Instead, they are heading back to school to retrain so they can find new employment.

Slater turned his situation around through education. On Saturday, he celebrated six months at his new job. He already has received a raise and has big plans for the future: Pursuing a bachelor’s degree.

“I’m glad everything went the way it did,” Slater said, “because I have more of an opportunity now that I have a college degree than I ever had before.”

HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS

Jack Matchett’s Lake Township home is surely decorated with wreaths and a Christmas tree. Trimming the house for the holidays was something he always took part in — until this year. He’ll arrive home in just a few days to find it has been finished, somehow, without him. But that’s what makes his life work.

These days, Matchett remains in Kansas City, where he moved earlier this year for work. His wife, Pam, along with their four children, remain in Lake Township.

“My wife has to carry the ball at home, and she does just a wonderful job,” he said. “I think sometimes people get the impression, ‘Thank God you are working,’ but in terms of getting ahead, you are just trying to keep your head above water. Things are OK, but we have double the utility bills, plus rent and a house payment.”

And, for Matchett, there’s an even higher cost: “I’m missing out on those times with my children that I just can’t get back.”

But sitting around in Ohio waiting for a job just wasn’t cutting it for his family.

“I was out of work for a year, and, let me tell you, there is nothing more humbling,” Matchett said. “When you see people in need of employment, it is not just a monetary struggle, but mentally it’s a struggle. You feel like you are not a provider.”

Matchett had worked for 22 years at a New Philadelphia packaging company before his position was eliminated in May 2009. He wants to move back to Stark County.

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“I’m starting to get the feeling it would take an act of God for something to open up there,” he said. “I think companies are still very leery about the future when you are not really sure how the next quarter will be, let alone the next year.”

Meanwhile, the unemployed are waiting and waiting for jobs that never materialize. Matchett is online nightly applying for jobs, few of which are in Ohio.

“I think the state of Ohio is making it very difficult for companies and for people who want to stay in Ohio,” he said. “So, you have to do what you have to do.”

For many, that means moving. For Matchett, it came down to this:

“If I’m gonna keep my house, I’m moving to Missouri,” he said. “I never would have thought — in a million years — I would have to move 800 miles away from my family.

“It wouldn’t have been my chosen path, but it sure beats sitting at home not working.”